It seems that this has been a long time coming. The rumor has been around for years and the distribution agreement with InBev was a trial run. They have demonstrated their value be increasing sales of InBev products. It must have been successful - hence the offer. If inBev not only gets to own the AB Brands, but can more increase the sales of its own products through ABs distribution channels, the offer price is way low.

I think there will be a backlash against the brands simply because it is such a strong US brand. At some point people are going to realize it does matter who owns the company.

As for the board having the fiduciary responsibility to sell the company… If the board was a farmer, and the company the cow, the farmer doesnt have to sell the cow when beef prices go up or milk prices go down. They have the responsibility to keep the cow healthy. Sounds like BS double-talk to me - but you hear it repeated until people actually believe it.

I personally know August Busch IV, and many others in the Busch corporate family. They’re great people, committed to St. Louis and charitable as heck around the world. But realistically their inability to be more aggressive in a lucrative global economy has hurt the company and us stockholders. Since a kid, it was always thought that A-B stock was a blue chip work-horse,not of late. Their belated entry into the global market, while our competition has dominated many high revenue areas has hurt the long-term economic growth of our company. The semi-retirement of August, (III) one of the world’s most intense, but brilliant business tycoons has hurt our investments. August Busch IV and his family DO NOT control A-B’s future, we do — the stockholders, many have some of our retirement funds invested in A-B. For many of us thisclose to retirement, we need to start converting some stock into the next phase — and I’ve personally been waiting for a miracle on Wall Street and Busch Place. It NOW has arrived. The community should appreciate that it takes millions to re-build these brewerys, and the potential groom (buyer) should take interest in protecting the A-B brand, by having it’s U.S. headquarters in the City of St. Louis. It’s to their full economnic benefit, as well as ours. The groom needs to put some more gold on the table, and let’s get this marriage rocking and rolling.

I think it is a shame how so many are concerned a few extra dollars now for a trade off for the future. Granted who is to say what might happen but being bought out by a by a foreign company is not the way to go. Look around how many profits go out of this country, how many people are out of work because a toy that (hopefully has no lead in it) is cheaper and that it helps that company stock rise is made overseas. Anhueser-Busch has been a leader for over a 150 years it may not be the biggest anymore granted that it took every other brewer to merge with someone else to top A-B.For Anheuser-Busch to control almost half the US market share they must be doing something right. If given time I have no doubt the the same will happen oversea with such a great company and 1 beer.I will say that my wife works for A-B and she loves it that company ranked 1 to work for is a dream for most and a privilage for those who do. For the benefits they receive and the high apprciation that they are shown.
I work for a homebuilder that was sold to a larger out of state builder. We we told how much better thing would be because of their guidance and able to make more money. This is true that they made better profits but along the way we were told that we were not building houses correctly for the last 50 years. They cut costs the materials we used were cheaper and poor quality, saftey awards were taken away, company christmas parties and family day were either removed or scaled back and the paper work rose by 50%.
So being talken over by someone who cost cut may be good for your investor but what about the employees who have worked there for years. SO I guess if you think making a little money is great then it makes sense. But as someone that has family and stock in A-B and believes in american owned and made products you should see this a bad thing, no matter who you are.
My suggestion is for August to send Inbev a case of BUDWIESER and tell them to GO TO HELL.
Lets stay american and show that we are not just a country that can no longer handle its own business by ourselves.

This what happens when the CEO search committee does a search for the best candidate in a family instead of a real search. I can hear the new tag on the TV ads, “InBev-Anheuser Busch, Leuven, Belgium.”

If this happens, one of the first thing that will happen after firing anyone who has anything to do with the public company aspects of AB will be an analysis on the efficiency of the infrastructure. I don’t know how efficient the old brewery in the City is versus newer plants elsewhere, but I do know the city earnings tax will not be helpful in the equation. This will end up costing the city and state plenty in incentives for it to stay, if it does. If it leaves, I fear for the solvency of the City. When May, TWA and AG Edwards left they said we were turning into Wichita. AB leaves Wichita will sound good.

Bring back prohibition. The products these companies make have been responsible for more misery than anyone can imagine.

Ya mad at da bombers…yet ya let the tower livers sell you out. Ya pay dere tax for dem. WTF? Quit da prostrate nad licking of da wall street demons. You fault…you fault!

I agree with Marco! It’s beer’s fault…not the people drinking it! I would like to also ban sugar. Sugar is the reason people are fat. I would also like to suggest banning guns. They are the reason people die…not the people shooting them. And cars? Don’t get me started!

St. Louis has suffered immeasurably for decades due to its stifling conservatism and aversion to change. By the time we adapt to changes, the world has changed again and the changes we finally make are too late and usually misguided due to changing conditions. St. Louis was once a prosperous, proud metropolitan area that was one of America’s 10 largest. Today, we will soon drop out of the top 20. Who cares, some say. We should care about this more than anything because lack of growth means lack of new jobs, and the opportunity that goes with that growth. Plus billions in lower property values to boot. Because of our conservatism, St. Louis companies don’t expand and prosper, they get sold. Anheuser-Busch has followed the same pattern that McDonnell Douglas, May, Ralston Purina and dozens of others have followed. Anheuser-Busch spent years with its head buried in the sand afraid to take bold steps, while the rest of the brewing world left it in the dust. We sit smugly saying it couldn’t be helped, and we like things here the way they’ve always been, but that is nothing but a cop-out to make ourselves feel a little better in this world that’s rushing by us so quickly. We blame corporate greed for out of town companies buying us and closing shop here, but don’t question why our hometown companies didn’t expand with the times. We blame free trade agreements as to why manufacturing jobs have left, and acknowledge that the only new jobs are in those tech businesses that are in other parts of the country, but don’t question why we have one of the most uneducated populations in the country. We sheepishly say we’ve always been a quiet family friendly town, but how family friendly are we when our families end up torn apart because our brightest young children move away to more exciting, growing cities with better opportunities? Will we ever learn?

Scott, we will never “learn” because that would involve having to change. A century from now, St. Louis will be another Wichita, like another blogger commented, and people (from out of town) will write books about us saying how pathetic it is that the people of St. Louis never “got it,” and suffered so terribly as a result. We’ll continue our pathetic existence, blaming the world for our problems that are nothing but our own doing when you really think about it. We can’t change the world. The ONLY thing we can do in order to prosper in this world is to adapt to it. Since we’re not willing to do it, because adapting by definition means to change, all we can do is continue struggling to make ends meet, complaining about how cold and greedy the world is, contining to do things the way we always have, at all costs, driving forward dangerously with our eyes fixed firmly on the rearview mirror. What we should be doing is devote all our energy into adapting to the reality in which we live, but that will never happen, because we’re St. Louis. I am a St. Louisan, but there is now a “for sale” sign in front of my house. I’ll be watching the fallout as the area continues going down in flames from a safe distance.

Want to solve the energy crisis? Attach a cable to Gussie’s headstone. He’s turning over in his grave so fast he could power the whole region.